Bombardment of thin lithium films with energetic plasma flows.

摘要

The Divertor Erosion and Vapor Shielding Experiment (DEVEX) has been constructed in the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It consists of a conical theta-pinch connected to a 60 kV, 36 muF capacitor bank which is switched with a rise time of 3.5 mus. This results in a peak current of 300 kA for a 30 kV charge on the capacitor bank. The resulting plasma is created and compressed under the theta-pinch coil and then expelled axially towards a target chamber due to the conical taper of the theta-coil. The plasma that reaches the target chamber is dense, 1021 m-3 and cool, 10--20 eV. For the purposes of this study, a thin stainless steel target, sputter coated with a lithium magnetron is the target/material of interest. Both computational [A. Hassanein, Fus. Eng. Des. 60: 527546 (2002)] and experimental [M.L. Apicella, et al., J. Nuc. Mater. 386--388:821823 (2009)] studies have shown that lithium, under fusion relevant plasma bombardment, maintains a much lower surface temperature than other plasma facing materials such as tungsten or carbon. This is believed clue to the strong evaporation and/or sputtering of lithium under these conditions. Subsequently a vapor cloud is formed in front of the plasma-facing surface. The lithium vapor interacts with the incident plasma stream absorbing a fraction of the incident plasma energy via the lithium-plasma interactions.;Here, we present experimental verification of substantially reduced target surface temperature with the use of thin lithium films on surface of the target as compared to a bare target. Furthermore, optical measurements are made to determine the density and temperature of the lithium vapor cloud as it expands away from the target surface. A collisional-radiative model for both neutrals and singly ionized lithium is used to model the lithium vapor and is found to correlate well with the optical measurements. The vapor cloud electron temperature is found to vary from 2--3 eV with peak heating occurring 3--5 mm away from the target. While the lithium neutral density is found to fall off exponentially from the surface, the lithium ion density is peaked 5--10 mm away from the target. This suggests an ionization front at this distance from the target where the energy from the incident plasma is primarily absorbed by the lithium vapor. It is estimated that the primary mechanisms for energy deposition into the lithium vapor are due to primary and secondary ionizations of the lithium as well as electron-lithium scattering. The energy absorbed by these processes correlates well with the energy reduction found to the target surface when a lithium coating is present.